Praedicator

Verba

Saturday, July 19, 2008 - Saturday in the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time

[Micah 2:1-5 and Matthew 12:14-21]

The Pharisees went out and took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. When Jesus realized this, he withdrew from that place. Many people followed him, and he cured them all, but he warned them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through Isaiah the prophet: Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight........He will not contend or cry out, no will anyone hear his voice in the streets.....

It seems strange that a gentle and compassionate man like Jesus would attract lethal opposition! Yet that is what happened. The Gospel of Matthew, reflecting on this, found the words of Isaiah to be a foretelling of this. The words are taken from several places in Isaiah (the second part) which are called the "songs of the Suffering Servant." We will hear them in full in Holy Week, culminating in the one on Good Friday which is downright spooky in its description. The Suffering Servant is not a rabble-rouser but a gentle who tells the truth and reaches out in compassion to all others who suffer. Jesus' ministry attracted crowds and because he was not as strict as the Pharisees in his interpretation of the Mosaic Law, and was critical of them for their interpretation, the opposition to him began to grow. The early Christian community attributed this opposition to envy.
In the Catholic list of saints and heroes, there are many who fit the description. We could note the success of St. Francis of Assisi as well as that of St. Martin De Porres, but in our own times, Dorothy Day and Mother Teresa of Calcutta would easily come to my mind. Their gentleness and sheer persistence brought healing and compassion to thousands, but they had to overcome a great deal of resistance from various "powers." Others might recall Archbishop Romero in El Salvador or any number of prophetic figures whose cry for the poor was resisted with lethal violence. It is worthwhile to read those Songs of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah and see why the Church has always found them a way to understand Christian prophetic life. AMEN